The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way we all do business. Social distancing, working from home and staff being on Furlough have given businesses unprecedented challenges. With so much uncertainty, you must continue to spread the word about what it is that you do. After all, you need to do everything in your power to ride the next few months out.
While there isn’t a handbook for promoting a business during a pandemic, there are some key strategies you can employ to keep things ticking over. Here are our top tips on what your next steps should be.
Stay social
Posting on social media probably feels like the last thing you want to be doing at the minute. However, it’s the best way to keep your business at the forefront of your customer’s minds. If you haven’t already got a watertight social media strategy, then it’s worth investing in social media marketing.
Doing so is a great tactic to make sure your content is fresh and on point. Marketing agencies specialise in this kind of work, including launching paid ads and analysing your stats. If you don’t have the time or knowledge to manage your own social media channels, then outsourcing it will make sure your audience doesn’t slip, especially when you’re most in need of a boost.
Email marketing
Email marketing can generate $38 (£29) for every $1 (76p) spent. At a time of great financial uncertainty, make sure you aren’t forgetting about the humble email when trying to promote your business. It’s the perfect method of communication to introduce yourself, your business and any news or offers you want to share with your customers.
The key is to use engaging subject lines that will boost your open rate. When done correctly, email marketing can add value to your brand story, and ultimately your business. Set goals for each campaign such as to push a particular product or service. These tactics are useful regardless of whether your business is going through a pandemic or not.
Update your website
Given visiting in person isn’t something people can do as easily do during Covid-19, your customers will be turning to online forms of communication now more than ever. As the digital face of your business, your website should be tooting your horn about what it is you do. So if you haven’t redesigned your website in a while, now couldn’t be a better time to do it. Or get a web designer in to do it for you!
Ideally, your website will contain some way people can buy from you. This could be in the form of an e-commerce setup, or the ability to buy vouchers for your service. For example, beauticians have been selling vouchers for when they reopen to generate a profit while they are closed. This requires a dedicated function on your website and a secure payment method to facilitate this.
To sum up
Even though things are tough for everyone right now, you still need to be making an effort to market your business.